Page 5476 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 4 December 1991
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Since publication of the above document during May this year, the Department has received over 40 submissions which raise a number of issues about the interpretation and impact of some provisions of the code.
It goes on:
As a result, the Minister has directed the Department to prepare a paper on future options for fair retail shop leasing regulation.
We are still trying to achieve this code of conduct, which everyone said was imminent some months ago - some years ago, almost. Mr Speaker, I seek leave to table a copy of that letter and to have it incorporated in Hansard.
Leave granted.
Letter incorporated at Appendix 4.
MR JENSEN: It is now common knowledge that this attempt to establish a mandatory code in New South Wales has failed. The key to any code of conduct is the ability to make it work, especially if it is proposed to be a voluntary arrangement; that is, a tenant or a landlord can choose to remain outside the process, with the latter not being required to be registered. It would seem that it is now up to this Assembly to take up the challenge offered to us all by David Beddall's report, which also flagged the problem.
While government regulation of business is to be avoided wherever possible, it is needed to provide some certainty to all groups in this equation. These groups are important to the health of small business, and it is only when the playing field is level that equity will return to this arrangement. It seems that the only realistic way is legislation; hence this Bill today. It is important to reduce the amount of pressure on small business men and women, who seek only to obtain a fair return for their investment, a return that the landlord sector demand for themselves, often at the expense of the health, welfare and sanity of small business men and women - the backbone of the commercial and retail sector in any community.
Let me now turn to some of the substantive proposals in the Bill, which will now be available for comment from all those groups who have an interest in the issue. Firstly, in relation to application, the Bill is designed to apply to all commercial tenancies, which includes retail tenancies, of course. Definitions of commercial and retail tenancies are contained in the Bill, and it is appropriate to read them into the record today. Firstly, "commercial premises" is defined as:
premises used or intended to be used, in whole or in part, for carrying on any profession, trade or business, and includes retail premises;
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